DoD OIG details top management challenges in FY19 & beyond

Brett Mansfield, senior adviser to the principal deputy inspector general at the Department of Defense, discusses the top management challenges to solve at the Pentagon.

As one of the largest agencies in the federal government, the Department of Defense has some unique management challenges. In November, the DoD’s Office of the Inspector General released their “top ten” list of challenges at the agency. While some issues are the same as prior years, key points have changed. According to Brett Mansfield, senior adviser to the principal deputy inspector general at the Department of Defense, a big focus this year was the DoD audit.

“We talked about the reaction to the financial audit that the DoD underwent for this first time this year,” Mansfield said. “The focus is really upon the findings and recommendations that the auditors have and look at the financial processes for the department.”

Another major challenge is ensuring the military’s readiness. Mansfield said that the department is looking to improve their lethality by becoming more efficient.

“The Department of Defense is undergoing some reform initiatives… and within that is making the force more lethal. What that really gets to, is looking across the department for areas where you can be more efficient, so you can take that excess capacity and put it back into readiness.” Mansfield said.